Jacket Copy: Joan Didion's
electrifying first novel is a haunting portrait of a marriage whose wrong turns
and betrayals are at once absolutely idiosyncratic and a razor-sharp commentary
on the history of California. Everett McClellan and his wife, Lily, are the
great-grandchildren of pioneers, and what happens to them is a tragic epilogue
to the pioneer experience, a story of murder and betrayal that only Didion
could tell with such nuance, sympathy, and suspense.
Similar to: Robert Penn
Warren’s All the King’s Men; Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury; Daphne Du
Maurier’s Rebecca
Why I Love It: Joan Didion is the master of subtlety and understatement. There is more to be found in what she does not say, than in what words are actually on the page. I love the way this combined so many different themes and genres of writing (as you can see from the "similar to" section). I feel like it has something for everyone. It almost has the feel of an old 1940s black and white movie. When reading a book can make you feel like you're watching a movie, I usually consider that a pretty damn good writing job :)
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